The witchcraft from the Far East: Introduction

I am not sure if the terminology "witchcraft" is proper, yet, in order to describe how the spiritual world is constructed in Japan and people have tried to have a control over it, I use the term "witchcraft" until I found more appropriate word. In Japan, the spiritual is based on animism and shamanism. It is not the world of one-god, such as Jewes, Islams and Christiandoms. The first simple example that I can give you is the legendary kingdom of "Yama-tai-koku", which is stated in an official script of Later Han China (. The power was seized by a queen whose name is "Himiko" (about 188 A.D. ~ 248 A.D.) This script is called "Hanshu" i.e. Annals of the Han, which means the Chinese geographic chronicles of Later Han. According to this chronicle, it is commented that "the land of the wajin: the inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago) as being 'split into over a hundred small states'". (Japanese Historical Figures by Morimura Munefuyu, translated by Kirsten McIvor, 2007) and the reason why she possessed such a power was the fact that she was a strong shaman and medium who communicated with the other world. The practical political matter was in charge of her brother but all the decisions were made according to her oracles. This "Yama-tai-koku" appears in written history around 200s A.D. However there is no archeological discovery yet and there is a debate considering where this kingdom of "Yama-tai" reigned by queen "Himiko" existed: either in the north of Kyushu island or in Kinki area of Honshu. The debates are devided because of the fact that the description of how to reach to this country from Korea is not accurate: If one choose to believe that the paths following countries after countries, the description will leads you to the coordination in the middle of the ocean which is not possilbe so that one have no choice but to eliminate one country less or to count the distance not according to the historical writing. However one thing is clear: this country was reigned by a shaman queen and there was a civil war after her death and then succeeded by another shaman queen which ended the war. This was the time before Japan was "baptized" by Buddhism which occured in the middle of 500s. The vast and grandiose graves from 300s to late 400s show many evidences of the strong influence of the nature and its numerous gods and goddesses and the awareness of after death life. As a historian, I say that Japan's witchcraft derives from the spiritual world and this awareness of after death life.